Bullet traps are generally utilized to capture projectiles at firing ranges and to prevent the escape of the projectiles, many of which contain hazardous materials, such as lead, to thereby prevent contamination of the surrounding environment and for safety. Indeed, lead, one of the prominent materials utilized in projectiles for its weight and malleability, has been linked to many health problems in humans. For example, in children, exposure to lead may result in behavior and learning problems, including lower IQ and hyperactivity, slowed growth, hearing problems and anemia, to name a few. In pregnant women, lead can cross the placenta barrier, causing growth reduction of the fetus and premature birth. In adults, lead is linked to cardiovascular effects, increased blood pressure and incidence of hypertension, decreased kidney function and reproduction problems in both men and women.
Thus, bullet traps to capture projectiles and prevent contamination of the surrounding environment are being used more frequently. Indeed, it is necessary for law enforcement and others who utilize firearms to maintain their skills with the firearms, and the use of firing ranges can often be helpful and useful. Bullet traps have effectively replaced dirt mounds to provide safety and security of the projectiles fired from the firearms at these locations.
A bullet trap, typically, has several parts or features. First, a typical bullet trap has an opening through which the projectile enters. The opening, often referred to as the “mouth” typically is positioned at the end of a channel formed by an upper angled plate and a lower angled plate, arranged at complementary acute angles to the generally horizontal path that a projectile will typically travel. Thus, the channel is formed with a wide opening on one end and decreases in size to the mouth at the other end. The mouth is typically only a few inches high. A projectile may impact the plates of the channel and ricochet toward the mouth.
Upon entry to the mouth, the projectile typically travels down a relatively narrow channel known as the “throat”. Exiting the throat, the projectile typically enters a barrel-shaped chamber, known as a “deceleration chamber”, where the projectile may further ricochet around the chamber in a circular manner until it loses its momentum and falls, by gravity, through an aperture into a collection chamber.
It is often desirable to minimize or eliminate deflecting structures within a projectile's path in order to ensure that the projectile maintains its forward line of travel through the channel, into the mouth, and through the throat into the deceleration chamber. Therefore, it is generally known to eliminate any deflecting structures that may cause a projectile to deflect and ricochet back out of the bullet trap. Thus, it is highly desired to ensure that the projectile stays within the bullet trap and is collected within the collection chamber. Any projectile that is able to escape the bullet trap, such as a projectile that may deflect back out of the bullet trap, may pose a hazard to firearms users or others nearby, and to the environment.
The difficulty is that in the effort to eliminate all possible deflecting structures, bullet traps often are not structurally sound, especially in the area of the mouth and throat, and there is risk of collapse of the same, thereby causing damage and increasing the potential for deflections and escape of the projectiles. A need, therefore, exists for bullet trap systems that are structurally sound. Specifically, a need exists for bullet trap systems that prevent or minimize the possibility of collapse of the mouth and/or throat portions of the bullet trap systems. More specifically, a need exists for bullet trap systems that prevents or minimizes the escape of projectiles from the bullet trap systems yet still ensures that projectiles are not deflected out of the same.
In addition, bullet traps are often disposed side-by-side in a long series to provide users with many places to stand and fire their firearm into the trap. To prevent the aforementioned possibility of deflection, bullet traps that are lined up side-by-side to not have sidewalls within sections that bullets travel. Oftentimes, targets are set up at various locations within the channel of the bullet traps. Therefore, cross-firing of projectiles to hit targets that may be further away or at oblique angles to the shooter may cause projectiles to enter the bullet traps at extreme angles, instead of perpendicular to the mouth opening. Therefore, projectiles may also travel from one containment unit to another laterally during deceleration of the projectile within the decelerations chambers. Lateral traveling of projectiles within the deceleration chambers may cause damage to the deceleration chambers as bullets and bullet fragments traverse from one deceleration chamber to another. Moreover, projectiles fired at angles may eventually impact the terminal sidewalls of the bullet traps, causing damage to the terminal sidewalls thereof. A need, therefore, exists for bullet trap systems that minimize or prevent the lateral movement of projectiles. Specifically, a need exists for bullet trap systems that minimize or prevent the lateral movement of projectiles caused by cross-firing of the projectiles. Indeed, a need exists for bullet trap systems that minimize or prevent damage to containment units that may be caused by laterally moving projectiles cause by cross-filing of the projectiles.
Bullet traps often suffer from accumulation of bullet pieces and metal fragments. As projectiles enter the bullet traps, they may impact surfaces at high velocities, causing metals and metal fragments to spread along the interior surface of the bullet traps without falling into the collection chambers. In addition, bullets may enter bullet traps at high temperatures after being fired from firearms, or may heat up within the bullet traps and, especially, the deceleration chambers therein. Therefore, the metal or metal fragments may melt, spread out, and stick to interior surfaces of the bullet traps. Thus, a need exists for bullet trap systems that minimize or prevent damage to containment units that may be caused by melted metals and high temperature bullet fragments. A need further exists for bullet trap systems that provide accessibility to the interior of the bullet trap system, such as the deceleration chamber, for removing bullet fragments and pieces from within the bullet trap systems.